On Friday afternoon, it was revealed that Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward received a $22,050 fine for verbally abusing an official on the field. The cost of shouting obscenities at the stands, as levied against Jets quarterback Geno Smith, turned out to be a mere $12,000.
As former NFL coach Tony Dungy of NBC’s Football Night in America put it in a text message sent in the aftermath of those two bits of information, "$22,050 if you ‘F’ bomb an official. Only $12,000 if you ‘F’ bomb a fan where kids can hear it. What’s wrong with this picture?”
The easy answer is that those are the fines the NFL and NFLPA agreed to for these offenses. For verbal abusing officials, the minimum fine negotiated by the league and the players union is precisely $22,050. The minimum fine for profanity and other unsportsmanlike conduct if $11,025. So Smith at least got more than the minimum. Still, Smith’s fine fell short of Heyward’s by more than $10,000.
The harder question is whether the NFL and NFLPA will acknowledge that, as Coach Dungy said, something is wrong with this picture. At a time when the NFL hopes to come up with new ways to persuade fans to come to games, profanity heard from other fans continues to nudge some parents toward watch the games at home with their children. Profanity coming from players must be discouraged even more strongly than profanity directed at an adult who is paid to deal with periodic disrespect from those who disagree with his decisions.
